Alistair You said that you can not view your backup CD's. Was this because the files stored on them were peculiat to the genealogy program you used. If so there is a good chance that FTM 2009 will import them and save you a lot of work. It is worth a try. When you backup in the future, try backing up in two or more formats. e.g. FTM allows you to save your data in their files and also in gedcom files. The gedcom is much more portable between programs. John W Cranbourne Australia Alistair Macdonald wrote: > I hope this is the right department. If not, silence will confirm it. About a year ago faced with brick walls in four families, and getting back no further than the early 1700's, I decided to give it a rest. Some three months ago after a computer crash in which I lost my entire family tree programme and all family data, not even being able to view my carefully preserved CD back ups, I was tempted to scrub the lot, but after following some threads in this group a spark of enthusiasm was raised. I bought the latest Family Tree Maker programme and was rewarded with a three month's free trial of Ancestry. If I decide to restart my searches I know that when signed on, Scotland's People will show me with over 100 credits, Everything seems to be in my favour, but where do I start? Try again in the BDM departments; engage in more battles with LDS family search, or go back to my listed genealogy sites? Or where? > > Any suggestions would be appreciated. > > Alistair > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ANGUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >